Beer-chip



(No Model.)

B. RICE.

BEER 0111?. No. 279,019. Patented June .5, 1883.

WITNESSES INVENTOR BY 7'- W dm I ATTORNEY.

' UNITED STATES BERNARD RICE, OF BROOKLYII', NEYV-YORK.

BEER- CHIP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 279,019, dated June 5,1883. Application filed March 31, 1883. (No model.)

2 upon the surfaces of the chips, as by calendering-rolls; but suchmethod of producing the grooves is obj ectionable,because when the chipsare applied to repeated use the grooves are obliterated by the naturalexpansion of the wood when exposed to the beer, and hence it isnecessary to reindent the chips after each use in order to preserve thedesired condition thereof.

My invention isdesigned to overcome such objection; and to this end itconsists in a chip having portions of the wood removed in proper linesacross the grain to produce the desired grooves or indentations, ashereinafter more fully described.

The accompanying drawing illustrates a chip having grooved or indentedlines across the grain of the wood.

'In carrying out my invention I take a sheet or strip of thin wood,preferably a veneer cut from a revolving log of wood in the usualmanner, and divide the same in suitable sheets of the proper size ordimensions. I then remove portions ofthe wood on either or both surfacesof the sheets across the grain of the wood and in lines extending eitherat a right angle or oblique angle to the grain, said lines beingdisposed with regularity, so as to produce in the sheets grooves orindentations a, serving to in crease their superficies. I then cut thesheets into chips of any desired size. For the purpose of removing saidportions of the wood I use suitable saws or cutters, which may bearranged in gangs so as to cut a series of grooves in one operation,and, if desired, the wood may be exposed to the action of such toolsbefore it is cut from the log. or before the veneer is out into sheets.The depth of the grooves is about onehalf the thickness of the chips,and when the grooves are made in both surfaces of the chips those of onesurface should alternate with those of the other.

It will be seen that by making the grooves a in the manner describedthey are rendered per manent, and thus not liable to be obliterated bythe expansion of the wood, while the grooves possess the additionaladvantage of being rough, thus tending to attract the impurities whichit is desired to eliminate from the beer by the chips, and, moreover,the chips can be used over and over again after being washed.

dVhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

' As an improved article of manufacture, the beer-chip herein described,having portions of the wood removed in regular lines across the grain onthe surface or surfaces of the chip,

for producing permanent grooves or indentations, as and for the purposedescribed.

' In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of twowitnesses.

FRANCIS CLARE BOWEN, GEORGE CORBION, Jr.

